We are not a "top side" at the moment, and the earliest we might be is next year IMO.
We're highly unlikely to get anything out of this season, except experience for the young lads and some time for the seniors to show what they can do or be shipped on.
I didn't expect anything different this year once those injuries really kicked in, I'm honestly not sure which yardstick some of you are using. We have some brilliant talent at the club, but it takes time. We totally took our eye off the ball there for years (or the talent just wasn't there, or both). Now we have a real strong production line of talent but even the likes of Mik aren't fully in their prime yet. We just need to accept it's going to be a number of years still before the full potential of our youth is winning things again. When the young lads are in their prime AND we have some high quality seniors amongst them, we'll be fine.
As for senior recruitment I've made some criticisms in the past. I can also see a club desperate to avoid the drop, struggling for finances in places and struggling to compete with clubs in better position/form than us. We've made some mistakes but some good signings too amongst them.
Thing is to step forward we are going to have to concentrate resources on better quality than we have now, which means difficult conversations and some big decisions.
I actually quite enjoyed the game against Hull. Massively frustrating that we couldn't pierce the line in good ball but great to see an atmosphere back, dare I say a bit off biff and patches of good play given the conditions.
I still maintain we are not as far off as some seem to think. It's a bit like when we played Wigan: Hastings is on our side, we win that game. Against Hull, Jake Connor is in a Leeds shirt and we win that game. You keep winning games like those and suddenly you're in amongst it again. Field position was a massive issue when Furner came in, now we're getting forward quite nicely. What we lack now is skill and execution in the back line, mostly. Fix one link and then on to the next.